Commons Studio – a media arts access centre
The Multi-Cultural Cinema Club / Commons Studio is looking for people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in sharing, developing, practicing, updating, diversifying or expanding skills related to digital storytelling. This includes artists in all disciplines, amateur or professional; emerging or established.
The stories are meant to be brief (3-5 minute; 300-500 words), of ongoing relevance, and about an overlooked or undiscovered aspect of the Grand River watershed and the communities within it. Topics will be assigned or chosen from a themed list of story ideas.
Click here to view some examples of completed projects.
Story projects will be undertaken by inter-generational, inter-cultural, and inter-disciplinary work groups. Teams will set their own timeframes, schedules and work plans. Each participant will be committed to one or more specific role such as director, producer, convener, and recorder / reporter; and/or to tasks such as planning, research, writing, storyboarding, video recording, sound recording, performance (narration, acting, movement, music), editing (script, video, audio), communication, and marketing.
The projects can utilize any combination of digital media formats – text, audio, graphics, still photography, or moving image. The end result could be video with sound, audio only, a slide show, or text, with or without illustration.
This is a pilot project. The main purpose is to experiment with developing opportunities for acquiring, applying and sharing digital media skills in an unhurried, co-operative applied learning environment. The intention, however, is also to create compelling, meaningful and locally relevant digital media content.
Themes currently under development include 1. music in the community; 2. flora in the city; 3. fauna in the city; 4. local democracy; and 5. local history stories.
The aim is to build a reservoir of story ideas, and assemble a set of teams to begin work on a select number of projects for completion by the spring of 2015.
There are various ways to participate, including:
- being part of a new hidden story team
- joining or supporting a hidden story project that is already underway
- help with the development of themes and story ideas
- individual participation in areas such as research, communication, and presentation
To find out more, or express interest in particpating, please contact us at:
Hidden Stories Project
Queen Street Commons Studio
film-making@theworkingcentre.org
519 749 9177 x333
